Waiting in the Wings After Health Care: Waxman-Markey et al.

The Washington Post had a feature story in the Style Section today, Joel Achenbach’s light-hearted look at 180 House Democrats who actually decided to read the House health care bill, or at least an executive summary of it. They sat down for a five-hour review of the provisions — as of that moment — of H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act.

So that’s a five-hour session to review legislation that reshapes a sixth of the GDP. Newsworthy…

The Waxman-Markey bill passed by the House last month reshapes 100 percent of the nation’s GDP. It certainly did not get any similar sort of examination by House members before passage, especially since a good 300 pages of it showed up at 3 a.m. of the day of the vote.

How many hours of staff briefings would do this bill justice?

P.S. Jay Nordlinger of The National Reviewreports a reader’s comment about the massive bureaucracy and economic costs spawned by Waxman-Markey and offers a historical note:

“He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”